We spent the weekend at the home of friends in the Finger Lakes Region of New York. They have a veranda with a million dollar view of one of the lakes surrounded by lush verdant forest. Perhaps I have a touch of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder because I was persistently annoyed by the top of one dead tree that stuck up above a perfect layer of green. I wanted to take a chain saw and go down the hillside and eliminate it. When I finally mentioned it my host was horrified. “You can’t,” he exclaimed. “It’s my hawk stick!” He’s an avid birdwatcher and apparently raptors love to sit atop that one dead treetop giving both the hawk and my host great views.
It was amazing. Once I realized the dead tree had a valuable purpose I no longer wanted to cut it down. It was useful. It provided something the living trees did not. Solomon was right again. There is a purpose for everything. Actually, it’s a lesson I have discovered about people. Have you ever met someone whom you deemed to be useless? I’m ashamed to mention this because that is so wrong. But I have been guilty. It was only after I knew more about the person that I realized they had a gift, they had purpose, they had someone they loved and it was none of my business to make such a judgment. There is no such thing as a useless person. Just because I wasn’t perceptive enough to discern their value was a judgment about me and not them. I need to remind myself that I have come across individuals who most likely thought I was useless.
Written by Roger Bothwell on August 16, 2010
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org